I don't think it was 9/11. My siblings and I all spent our teen years after 9/11 but before the proliferation of smartphones (I didn't get mine until I was a se

I don't think it was 9/11. My siblings and I all spent our teen years after 9/11 but before the proliferation of smartphones (I didn't get mine until I was a senior in college). We all hung out with friends, often after dark. We went to public school and lot of our friends weren't high income so hanging out in person was the main method of entertainment. Maybe our experience was not representative of the norm. In retrospect our parents were strong believers in the antifragility of children, and consistently sought to give us as much freedom and responsibilities as we could safely bear. I remember doing things like changing oil, fixing lawn mower blades, learning how to use a chainsaw in my early teens. They took me to a shotgun class (because my dad got invited to a bird hunting trip) even though I had zero interest in guns at the time. I also took an hour bus ride to school through the worst part of town. My parents could have sheltered their kids from experiences like these but chose not to. Maybe they weren't regular parents, but I sincerely hope the claim that kids are so sheltered and isolated these days is rooted more in stereotype than fact.